Greystones

HI, I have a travel facilitation letter for my  Partner Visa 100 and am a permanent rsident, but have not yet activated the visa. My original first entry date was 12th April 2022. Travel facilitation letter allows my first entry to be 13th Janurary 2023. I think everything is in order, but I see no mention of this letter on the VEVO site. I am travelling on the 28th August and I want to ensure I ahve all the correct documents in order before flying (Ireland to Brisbane via Dubai). Emirates just told me I didn't need to bring anything to the airport with me, but I will still bring a printed copy of my visa, TF letter and a pdf form the VEVO site. So I guess my question is, has anyone used their TF letter yet? Do the airlines look for it? Was there any issues on arrival in Australia? Thanks all

On 08/07/2022 at 11:19, bicek said:

On the inventory you provide them for customs. You need to be fairly descriptive. Quantities and materials are useful. If you're packing wooden items you need to mention this. Eg. wooden kitchen utensils x 6. Mens clothing x 15. Wooden framed pictures x 5 etc... 

On the box itself we labeled the outside more basic, just listing roughly the contents. Eg. Kids wooden toys, bedding, towels, kitchen glassware, etc. We marked any boxes containing wood/animal skin/shoes etc and packed those near the front of the container. Clean your shoes! 

Thanks Bicek, we are more or less following that method. It's hard to be 100% prescriptive with small items but we are grouping things together as best possible. Shoes will be at the front and spotlessly clean!

Hi, so my Movecube is coming next week. Packing is going well. I have a question on the itemisation  - how rigourous do we need to be? Is general headings like ornaments, clothing, shoes, wooden items sufficient, or do we really need to list every item in every box?? Would be great to hear anyones feedback on the end to end process!

HI, I got my travel faciliatation letter approx 48 hours after submitting the request. This was in January. There was no acknowledge of recepit, they just emailed me with the letter (in pdf). I didn't need to provide any meaningful details as to why I wanted the letter. They granted it for a full year (Jan 2023) but I am travelling and activating my visa in August. Hope that helps, I assume the process is exactly the same whilst they are still offering the service

On 07/01/2022 at 20:06, BigJoe said:

My wife applied last week, but we’ve heard nothing. Not even an email acknowledgment.

Is it normal to not get any form of confirmation?

Hi, I have a Partner 100 visa approved and my initial entry date is April 12th 2022. I applied for the travel faciliation letter yesterday (the earliest I could do it) and this morning I had my approval letter through giving me until 13th January 2023 for initial entry and activating my visa. It came through as an email with a pdf attachment  - I didn't get any confirmation email saying that they had received my application. Hope that helps, I had been looking on the forum for a while for people experiences but they seem varied on how long it takes to process

22 hours ago, Meath Lass said:

yes I applied. Automatic system really easy response within two days granting extension. word of caution though. only apply when you are sure you can travel. as I have extension but cannot activate the visa and then come back to put affairs in order due to outgoing travel restrictions. hence its a case of selling house getting dogs booked on flights and then travelling. 

HI, can I ask how long they gave you as an extension and when they dated it from?  We are in a similar situation, have the 309 granted and first entry is 12th April 2022, but thinking about applying for extension as it looks volatile in Australia just now with the lockdowns etc and good chance our flights could get bumped!

2 hours ago, psuwara said:

Of Emirates, Qatar and Etihad, Emirates is probably the least comfortable. But still well above Qantas.

Hey, thanks for that. Why do you say Emirates are least comfortable, have they been bumping more people of their flights than others? 

Hi, has anyone had any experience flying with Emirates? We are coming from Dublin via dubai to brisbane on 29th December. Booked yesterday about an hour before I read intakes had been halved for the rest of the year! Though I'm not sure it would have changed anything. Does the government operate weekly caps or monthly caps also? I'm a little worried now our flights are so late in the month the cap will have been filled already! Thanks all

4 hours ago, Nemesis said:

That I can't tell you. Looking at the experiences of most people on here, the numbers are cut down hugely well in advance, but I would guess that right up until the day before its possible to get bumped off if you are really unlucky. Have a read hrough the many threads on it, I think there are a few people who list their seats with only a few days notice. Economy Classes will get bumped first.

As for the quarantine hotel, thats in the hands of the State government. When you arrive you are handed from the airline to the State, and they are the ones who will have worked out hotel allocations. 

In Queensland they usually try and put everyone from one flight into the same hotel if they can, though they make exceptions for families - there are a couple of hotels that have suites instead of just rooms, and these are allocated to families, especially those with small children, whenever possible. Not sure bout other States.

Thank you Nemesis, appreciate the help

2 hours ago, Nemesis said:

The airline must submit their passenger manifest to the relevant state government department in the state to which they are flying. They already have a fair idea how many people they can put on a particular flight, but the government can request an adjustment if necessary. 

You often hear about people being bumped, but one of the reasons for that is that the airlines do try and transport as many people as they can. There are many reasons why I person may book a flight, and then be unable to travel. If that happens the airline will contact the liaison team and give them a revised manifest. The more people drop out, the more seats are available for that flight/that week/that state, until finally the manifests are closed. And then the airlines have to advise the unlucky ones at the back of the queue that there just aren't enough seats.

Overselling like this is frowned on in normal times, but at present it really is the only way to get as many people here as possible.

Hi Nemesis, thank you for the detailed reply. So in terms of notifying the Australian govt of your arrival, if you are allowed to fly on the flight you have booked then when you get there you will be given a hotel quarantine spot? But you will only know that you can fly for sure when the airline closes their manifest? Do you know how long before the flight that they close them?

HI Everyone,

I have had my 100 visa granted for a couple of months now and planning to travel in November/December this year with my family. Wanted to ask if there was any sort of pre-registration that we needed to do before travelling? Is it as simple as booking flights and just going (assuming flights don't get cancelled!)? How does the Australian government make sure that the quarantine capacity of the state you are travelling to doesn't get exceeded? Is it up to the airlines to regulate the number of passengers returning?

Appreciate any advice or guidance!

1 hour ago, psuwara said:

@Greystones @Dizeee

It's important to understand that you can only apply for the request to push back your arrival date if you think you cannot travel 3 months before the arrival date. This doesn't apply to April 2022.

QUOTE:

Are you a permanent or provisional family visa holder and want to travel to Australia but the Initial Entry Date (first entry date) specified on your visa grant letter has passed or will pass within the next 3 months? 

Thanks, yeah at the time of writing the original post I was thinking we wouldn't be ready to travel but now we are planning to travel December/January so it shouldn't be an issue unless there are delays and flights get cancelled, then we can apply for it, but hopefully that wont happen!

2 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

I believe it is essentially for everyone, but here is a letter you need to apply for which you present if anyone asks you on your journey.  

Thanks Jon, found what I need here if anyone else needs it:

https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/help-support/departmental-forms/online-forms/travel-facilitation-letter-request-form

20 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

They don't want you to do that - they will instead if needed continue to waive the initial entry dates as they are doing at the moment.

HI Jon, thanks for that, are the initial entry dates currently waived for everyone or is this something we need to apply for?

HI Dizee, when we really started focusing on it, it took a couple of months to get everything together, but I'm sure we could have gone faster. It's really difficult to know what the minimum amount of documents to submit is so we put up quite a lot. For the medical/police checks, I think the way things are going if you have those uploaded from the very start before they request them it could speed things up a lot. A couple of other people on this site have got theirs much faster that mine and I think that's because they put everything up in one go. Hope that helps

Hi Everyone, Yesterday I was granted my 309/100! After all the effort that goes into it it is quite surreal to get the email! I have been following this forum for nearly 2 years now and it has been great. If it is helpful to anyone my timeline is below:

Applied Nov 2020

RFI for medical and police checks - Feb 2021

Uploaded medical and police checks - March 2021

Granted April 2021

We had a pretty straightforward case as we are married, have 3 kids together and a mortgage. Interestingly they didn't request police checks for my wife (my sponsor)

One question I have is - I now have to activate the visa by 12th April 2022 by visiting Australia for the first entry. We will hopefully make the move and do this in one go. But if we aren't ready to move by that date, does anyone know if I can just fly there, activate it and return home without leaving airport and avoid hotel quarantine (if it is still a requirement then)???

13 hours ago, bicek said:

When did you apply for the kids citizenship? Was it this year? Just curious re turnaround times.

HI, it was October 2019 - so no impact by Covid. My wife is an aussie by birth so I think it was a straight forward case.

6 hours ago, Robin’s Emigrating said:

Another quick question. We’re applying for both our kids citizenships and my 309/100 visa in parallel and have been presented with a question in my visa application about whether our kids are Australian Citizens. Should I mark them as “Australian Citizens” on the grounds that they will be by the time my application is processed, or mark as something like “Other”?

If it's any help, we did the citizenship first and once submitted the paperwork they came through in about a week, so it was a really quick turnaround (I know other peoples have taken longer) 

Hi Everyone,

Have been following this blog for months now and have finally submitted my 309 application! We are filling out the sponsor application now as well and it is looking for the same statements that I had to do for the 309 (Give details of financial aspect of relationship, nature of household etc etc) - I'm just wondering how much effort I need to put into these? Can I just reference the statements in the main application which I agonised over for ages before submitting??

Thanks in advance for any help!

On 17/01/2020 at 19:04, Returnhome said:

Hi, 

I haven’t used an agent either. 

https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/form-listing/forms/888.pdf

“For the 888

If you are not an Australian citizen or permanent resident and you reside outside Australia, your statement cannot be considered a statutory declaration under Australian law, even if it is made using this form or the template provided by the Attorney-General’s Department. However, under policy, your statement should be witnessed or certified according to the legal practices of the country in which you make the statement. Failing that, it should be witnessed by a person whose occupation or qualification is comparable to those listed above. This person should sign, date and specify their occupation at the bottom of the statement.”

I personally can’t advise any further on that as I didn’t fill that form out. I gave them the names of a couple of our friends and their contact details. I think that might have been on the main form as I wasn’t going to do witness statements etc. I had lots of photos and emails to prove we are legit. 

I uploaded the police certificate right away and there was a request on the dashboard to make a medical appointment. However when I called immigration about a different question and mentioned I uploaded those things, I was asked did I get a letter requesting it as they only last 12 months. I don’t know what others have done. I applied in August 19 and in the process of applying for my security certificates (I didn’t realise) and will be uploading them, in the next few weeks. So I don’t think you need to get them done right at the start, though I think it’s best to get them submitted at least before the end. I have noticed when people get a RFI they are then waiting 3 or 4 weeks for the grant letter. For me, I want to avoid the RFI and not delay the grant, even though it’s just a few weeks. 

This forum is so helpful, and I also call immigration with a questions:

If you are calling from the Americas or Europe please call our Global Service Centre (GSC) located in Australia on +61 2 6196  0196, Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm local time in your country. 

Hopefully others will chime in with what they have done.

 

Thanks, appreciate the reply. Another member also private messaged me about the website "Partner Visa Academy" which looks like a pretty good website for support specifically on this. The cost is affordable too so I might try that option also

https://thepartnervisaacademy.com.au/

Hi Everyone, I'm fairly new here but have been considering applying (partner visa 802) for a long time and have been following this forum a lot as a hobby almost! The time to move may come this year or next and I want to be ready. My wife is Australian, we have been married for 5 years and have 3 children all born in Ireland (who have Australian citizenship) and we have a mortgage together, so I think we have a pretty solid case

I am working on my application and cannot afford an agent to help. I have a couple of fairly basic questions I was hoping someone in a similar position could clarify?

First, on the supporting witness form 888 it asks for Australian citizens, I'm in Ireland so this isn't really possible. As i understand it, it asks for people from the set list of professions OR if you can't find them, then anyone you know and then it is counter signed by someone from the set list of professions that their statement is accurate. So if some of our friends filled this out for us, would it be acceptable for them to take it to a police station and ask for the police to counter sign their statement about us?

Second thing I was wanting to check was about the RFI. I understand that people don't always submit the medical and police checks when they first submit their application as they might expire. Are these the only things that you don't submit? Do you submit absolutely everything else apart form the medical/police checks and then wait for them to ask for them?

Thanks in advance for any help

14 minutes ago, lubry said:

I decided against using an agent because it is pretty expensive. In my opinion applying for this visa is quite straight forward and do-able yourself, especially for you since you have lots of evidence that you have lived together with your partner and have kids. If you have questions there are always people you can ask and for anything tricky you can do a one off consultation with a lawyer if you feel nervous! But I really believe an agent is unnecessary.

also, the mortgage is great evidence especially if both your names are on it! And yes upload about 30-40 photos! Try to have other people in the photo’s as well to prove that your social circle is aware of your relationship.

Thanks Lubry, That's just what I wanted to hear, as based on what Mike said and an email I just got from an agent I definitely can't afford one anyway!!

Can I ask how your application is going? Have you received visa yet or are you still waiting?

12 hours ago, Mike G said:

Yes agent will cost 4 thousand dollars my agent cost 4 thousand and 4 hundred but it will be benefits for us

Thanks Mike, good to know, not sure if we can afford that to be honest. Have you found it to be a big help over all?

Hi everyone, I'm new here and this is my first post. Looking for a bit of advice from everyone applying for 309 visa. My wife is an Australian citizen and we have been married since 2015 and have 3 children all born in Ireland. I'm an Irish national. The kids all have Australian citizenship and we live in Ireland.

I'm just wondering, how much detail do they need in the evidence of ongoing relationship section. Obviously I'll include bank statements, bills, mortgage etc. Will this be enough? Should I upload photos etc? In my head it's a pretty clear case given the age of our children (youngest is 1)

The other thing I was hoping for help on was if it was worth using an agent? I feel like I could do it myself but given the money involved might like the peace of mind of professional help. Can anyone recommend an agent or give an idea of what they cost??

Thanks everyone for the help!